Motorcycle accident in Fort Wayne: help for riders

Car Accident Lawyer Fort Wayne is a free referral service, not a law firm. It gives general information from Indiana law and state agencies, and its referral line connects riders with participating independent attorneys who take motorcycle crash matters.

Right after the crash

The same Indiana duties apply to a rider as to any driver involved in a crash (Indiana Code 9-26-1-1.1). The order matters more on a bike, because the rider is often the one who is hurt:

1. Get out of traffic if you can do it safely, and call 911 if anyone is hurt. If you cannot move, stay still and let someone else call.
2. Let medics look at you, even if you feel able to ride home. Some injuries are noticed only later.
3. Report it. Injury crashes must be reported as soon as possible to local police inside the city, the county sheriff or nearest state police post outside it, or a 911 operator.
4. Exchange details. Name, address, the vehicle’s registration number and a look at the driver’s license, both ways.
5. The bike. If no one is hurt or trapped, move vehicles out of the traveled lanes when it is safe. With an injury, that duty does not apply; follow the responders’ directions.

If someone else can help, ask them to photograph the scene before vehicles move: where the bike came to rest, the car’s position, skid marks or gouges in the pavement, the traffic signals and the sight lines from each direction.

What local crash data says about crossings

In Allen County, the Northeastern Indiana Regional Coordinating Council studied 3,879 crashes with incapacitating or fatal injuries from 2018 to 2022. Right angle crashes, where vehicles meet at a crossing, made up 26 percent of them. Among those right angle crashes, failure to yield the right of way was the primary factor in 44.0 percent, and disregarding a signal or sign in 42.9 percent (NIRCC safety plan).

Those figures cover all vehicles, not only motorcycles. A car turning across a rider’s lane, or pulling out from a side street, is the kind of crash those factors describe. Whether that is what happened in your crash is a question for the evidence: the report, the photos, witnesses and, sometimes, nearby cameras.

See a doctor, and keep seeing them

A rider can walk away from a crash feeling mostly fine and notice other injuries later. Get checked promptly, follow the treatment plan, and keep every record. Gaps in treatment are hard to explain later.

If your own auto policy includes medical payments coverage, it pays medical bills for you and usually your passengers, up to the policy’s limits, according to the Indiana Department of Insurance. Check what your motorcycle policy carries; coverage on a bike can differ from the family car.

The bike and the gear

A motorcycle crash damages more than the vehicle. Riders tend to lose a helmet, a jacket, gloves, boots, a phone mount, sometimes a camera. Keep all of it:

• Do not throw away a damaged helmet or jacket. Put them in a bag with a note of the date. They can help show what happened.
• Photograph the bike before any repair, from both sides, the front, the rear and close up on every damaged part.
• Keep receipts for the gear and for any aftermarket parts on the bike.
• Ask before you scrap it. If an insurer wants to total the bike, ask an attorney before the bike is gone for good.

Damage to the bike and gear is personal property. Indiana law generally gives two years to file a lawsuit for injury to personal property, the same as for injury to a person (Indiana Code 34-11-2-4).

Insurance after a motorcycle crash

Indiana generally handles crash injury claims on a fault basis: the at-fault driver and that driver’s liability insurance are usually where a claim starts. The minimum liability coverage in Indiana is $25,000 for injury to one person, $50,000 for two or more people and $25,000 for property damage in one accident (Indiana BMV).

Because rider injuries can be serious, the other driver’s minimum coverage may not go far. That is where your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage comes in. Each newly written Indiana auto liability policy must include it unless you rejected it in writing, and it lets you collect from your own insurer when the at-fault driver has no insurance or not enough (Indiana Department of Insurance). Find your policy and read the declarations page before your first adjuster call.

Shared fault: the question riders hear most

After a motorcycle crash, the other side may argue the rider was going too fast, was hard to see, or was splitting traffic. Indiana’s rule on shared fault decides what that argument is worth.

If the rider’s share of fault is	In general under Indiana law
50 percent or less	Any amount recovered is reduced by the rider’s share
51 percent or more	The rider generally cannot recover

That is modified comparative fault (Indiana Code 34-51-2-5 and 34-51-2-6). Different fault rules can apply to claims against a government unit. A plain-words walk-through is in Indiana’s 51 percent fault rule.

Passengers on the back

A passenger on a motorcycle is in the same exposed position as the rider. The passenger usually has their own claim questions: against the other driver, and sometimes involving the rider. Indiana has a guest statute that can limit claims by certain family members and hitchhikers riding for free. A licensed Indiana attorney can say whether it applies; the walkers, cyclists and passengers guide covers passengers in more detail.

Deadlines riders should know

• Indiana law generally gives two years to file a personal injury lawsuit.
• If a city, county or state vehicle or employee was involved, Indiana law generally requires a written notice within a much shorter time: 180 days when a city, town or county is involved, or 270 days when the state is.
• The deadline can be shorter or different in some cases, and rules for injured minors differ. A licensed Indiana attorney can say which applies.

Where Fort Wayne riders ride

Allen County’s map of serious crashes from 2018 to 2022 labels I-69, I-469, US 24, US 30, US 33, US 27 and State Roads 1, 3, 14, 37 and 101 (NIRCC safety plan). Riders use all of them, along with city streets and county roads. Wherever it happened, the crash report and the steps above are the same. For a crash on the interstate, see crashes on I-69 around Fort Wayne.

Getting the crash report

An officer must investigate every crash with injury or death. The report goes to the Indiana State Police, and you can usually buy a copy online through BuyCrash, the service the Indiana State Police uses (Indiana State Police crash reports). The Fort Wayne accident report guide explains how.

Finding a motorcycle accident lawyer in Fort Wayne

Questions worth asking any lawyer after a motorcycle crash:

• Do you handle motorcycle crash matters in Allen County?
• How do you deal with the argument that the rider was hard to see or going too fast?
• Which insurance policies might apply here, including my own uninsured or underinsured coverage?
• Should I keep the bike and the gear as they are, and for how long?
• How is your fee figured, and what costs would I owe either way?

Indiana’s professional conduct rules require any contingency fee agreement to be written and signed by the client. Ask any lawyer to explain the percentage and the costs before you sign.

You can reach a participating independent attorney’s office through the free referral line on this page. Or look through the Fort Wayne car accident law firms directory: many of the listed firms name motorcycle crashes among their practice areas. Those firms are listed free from public sources and are not the attorneys on the referral line.

Questions people ask